The Fix

Library JournalThis book is a kind of Cook's tour of the drug business - a business that seems as big and multinational as the oil business. The internationalization of drug use, the pervasiveness of drug useit's not just an American or a Western problemand the power of big-time drug dealers all are described in this engrossing, wide-ranging work of journalism. The picture is vivid and painted with a broad brush; the analysis is limited. What does come across is the failure of any control measure: whether the Dutch scheme for decriminalizing marijuana will work, as the author suggests, is a question sure to produce controversy. For the layperson, the book is an easy introduction to a grim topic. Henry Steck, Political Science Dept., SUNY Coll. at Cortland